Susan Boyle Needs Your Friendship and Support

The emotional fallout of Susan Boyle's unexpected and disappointing defeat on Saturday night was clearly devastating. The front-runner failed to take first place on the finale of Britain's Got Talent, losing to a teenage dance group called Diversity. It's hard to imagine how this somewhat shy and private middle-aged woman must have felt to have been suddenly catapulted into celebrity status and then knocked down, with 19 million viewers watching the debacle on TV. On stage, she handled the loss with grace but there were rumors of a series of backstage tantrums and cursing in response to the intense pressures she experienced as part of the competition.

According to media reports, one night later, Ms. Boyle had to be taken by ambulance from her hotel room to a London mental hospital run by the Priory Group. Under the Mental Health Act of 1983, someone in the UK can be detained for a maximum of 72 hours until that individual can be examined and treated by mental health professionals. But before any assessment could have taken place, there were media reports that hinted that Boyle was suffering from "mental exhaustion" and a "nervous breakdown." If she is diagnosed with a mental disorder, this wouldn't be surprising given the enormous amount of stress to which she was subjected.

To me, that Susan Boyle's emotional unraveling immediately became fodder for the media is a far greater loss than coming in second in the competition. She involuntarily lost her right to privacy and while pundits were previously preoccupied with her appearance and dress, now there will be relentless questions and conjecture about her mental status, before and subsequent to her achieving the status of celebrity.

Despite decades of brain research that has proven that mental disorders are no-fault illnesses, the stigma associated with these disorders still remains pervasive. When someone is diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, people rally around the individual. When someone experiences the symptoms of an emotional disorder, their friends and opportunities for the future seem to disappear in tandem.

We can only hope that the entertainment handlers and the public who warmly embraced Ms. Boyle, an ordinary woman with exceptional talent, will continue to back her. She needs friendship and support more than ever before. Handled well, this can be a teachable moment for us all.

Irene S. Levine, PhD is a freelance journalist and author. She holds an appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and is working on a book about female friendships, Best Friends Forever: Surviving A Break-up With Your Best Friend, that will be published by Overlook Press in September, 2009. She recently co-authored Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, 2008). She also blogs about female friendships at The Friendship Blog.

Comments

[ocotilla]

Susan Boyle needs to be treated with basic human dignity. That lets out most of the press.
They like their story line -- crazy lady banished to karaoke bar in hometown with cat --better
than the reality that she is cutting a cd with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and going on
a tour as suits her, after a well deserved rest from relentless coverage by moral midgets.
Many people love and admire Susan for her courage and talent. I will offer continued support
in good thoughts and the purchase of her first CD. I have already pre-registered for it at
Amazon, which many people have done. Susan is beautiful.

[PumaJ]

We really don't know the cause of Ms. Boyle's apparent acute stress reaction. Reportedly, she had not been sleeping or eating well the past week. In addition she apparently had been ill with a "cold". She was seen by her own physician, a general practitioner, a couple of times during the week due to the respiratory illness and poor sleep.

According to Piers Morgan, in a TV interview Monday morning, Ms. Boyle was physically and emotionally exhausted. The decision for her to go to the Priory Clinic for care was hers. She was not taken there and placed on a 72 hour hold.

I would challenge anyone to keep a cool head under the circumstances Ms. Boyle has been under just in terms of the show related stress. Add on to that the lack of sleep, poor nutrition and a physical illness... well no wonder the woman was rather beside herself. I would be too and I am a mentally healthy individual.

What is unknown to us, is did her doctor prescribe a sleeping med to help her sleep? It is a fact that there are a couple of meds on the market which can cause some individuals who take them to act rather oddly the next day. Further, given her age, maybe she is starting to go through "the change".

I agree with your call for our support of Ms. Boyle.

[rapunzel]

I am incensed about the names Mrs. Boyle is called in the media. Today, the UK Telegraph, which is not a tabloid, uses one of the derogatory words that I don't care to repeat again in a headline - they don't give her a break, even now. The German media tore her apart because of her looks, even in respected dailies. Absolutely disgusting.

She cursed? So what, who doesn't, under intense pressure. There is something else, though, that I want to share. I took classes at a college for Chinese Medicine many years ago. It was explained that women who are pre- / menopausal often have flare-up's of energy. I remember to this day that the teacher, a Chinese professor of Acupuncture, said that very often, especially the women who were known to be shy and quiet, can become loud, angry and forceful. I had never heard this before, but have since experienced it in others, and to a small extent in myself. It is not a character fault, or bad manners, it is biological. So what is the big deal with Susan having a fit? She has been treated extremely shabbily by some people, and I can imagine that she has trouble trusting anyone at this point.

I wish her well. I love her singing, for no other reason than I like her voice, and the way she delivered the songs that I heard.

[AgnesBankhead]

when the global mania erupted following susan's youtube debut, it was already apparent that the massive attention was going to end in tears for this humble and unassuming lady with a simple dream to sing before an audience -- i am sure that she had no idea what she was letting herself in for

thank you for reminding us all that a little kindness and compassion is also an appropriate response ...

[We-Are-The-Ones]

I don't think you know what Susan Boyle needs. I think she needs to be left alone to rest and begin her career without people like you imposing friendship and "support" on her